Notes and notables

A weekly roundup of short opinions offered by the Daily Press Editorial Board

March 27, 2014

The National Labor Relations Board is supposed to be an even-handed arbiter of disputes involving business and workers. Under President Barack Obama, it has tilted dangerously in favor of unions, as a high-profile ruling this week demonstrates.

Football players at Northwestern University in Illinois somehow convinced a NLRB regional director they should have the right to organize. They argued the 50-60 hours spent weekly in pre-season training coupled with 30-40 hours during each week of the season qualified them as employees of the school.

By forming a union, the players would enjoy the same collective protections and privileges enjoyed by other union members. It would mean the third-string freshman placekicker has similar rights as, say, members of the United Steelworkers local at Newport News Shipbuilding. That's not right.

Some administration critics worried the president's appointments would do little more than shill for unions, a traditional Democratic constituency. This ruling should deepen those fears. Businesses may start to worry they can't get a fair shake from an NLRB so obviously in the bag for organized labor.

But unions should also view this decision warily. The workers' rights movement helped establish safe workplaces and win fair wages. It changed the American workplace. A ruling like this makes unionizing seem frivolous — nothing more than a joke. That's terribly worrisome.

We are wary of overusing the sports metaphor, but in this case there is simply no other way to say it: The NLRB regional director dropped the ball. Northwestern intends to appeal the decision to the full board in Washington, where a reversal is in order and we hope sanity will be restored.

As 'The Turner Diaries' turn

We were both repulsed and a little bit fascinated to learn that a burgeoning soap opera that has divided a prominent national white supremacist organization has ripples that reach Gloucester.

The group in question is the National Alliance, founded in 1974 by William Pierce, whose screed "The Turner Diaries" has been a rallying point for neo-Nazis and anti-Semites around the world. Since Pierce's death in 2002, the organization has fallen into disarray.

Now several members of the National Alliance have filed a lawsuit seeking to remove the group's top three officers – including vice president Ryan Maziarka, a Gloucester County resident.

Mr. Maziarka, in his mid-30s, has a checkered past that includes a conviction for vandalizing a predominantly black church in Hampton and a dispute with the DMV over his vanity plates celebrating the cyanide gas used at Nazi concentration camps. Mr. Maziarka now says his views have "evolved" – that he no longer espouses "white pride," but rather, focuses on "preserving European culture."

We're not sure how to explain that distinction in lay terms, but Mr. Maziarka says the board's current position has moved away from the hate speech preferred by some members of the National Alliance. All of this leads us to lament: If a national organization of white supremacists can't get along, is there really any hope for the rest of us?

Potty theft

When we read that criminals have been stealing the motion detectors from automatic-flush toilets in fast food restaurants in Virginia Beach, we figured there had to be more to the story. Sure enough, similar incidents have been reported in cities across the country.

Interestingly, one plumbing manufacturer was quoted as saying that the devices – which cost hundreds of dollars – have no discernible value for black market resale. He suggested that these crimes are not so much theft as they are pure vandalism.

Or maybe, just maybe, they are a form of protest against the invasion of modern technology in that most private of inner sanctums. At first flush, these gizmos are a delight, but they get old fast – flushing at inopportune times, and making some lazy souls forget to finish the job when they use toilets that don't flush themselves.

Are we really too lazy to reach out and pull a lever to dispose of our own waste?

Roses and thorns

Each week, the Daily Press Editorial Board offers a list of area citizens or institutions deserving of "roses" or "thorns."

This week's roses go to:

• The U.Va. men's basketball team for advancing to the Sweet 16. Our sports coverage will remain objective, but the editorial board says, "Go Hoos!" (Although, truth be told, the guy from Virginia Tech was a little less exuberant than the rest of us.)